This past week marked a huge milestone in my life. I had moved out of my home and relocated to my dorm at Millersville. As expected, everyone and their mother was giving me pieces of advice within the few days before my departure. While thoughtful, I had either heard said advice beforehand multiple times or found myself one step ahead of it. But there was one person whose council I awaited above all others and that would belong to my older brother, Jonathan.
The night before I left, I went out to dinner with my family at the restaurant-club-bar-whatever where my brother cooks at. But when it finally happened, I have to admit that I was momentarily disappointed with him. The basic gist of what he told me was the obviously rehearsed “You can be anybody you wanna be, it’s a fresh start” spell. I blew it off at first, but later on I really started to put some thought into what he said.
What Jonathan had said caused me to look inwards and do some hardcore soul searching. First off, who was I? Well, I am Christian Harding; an 18-yeard-old future English major. I am the youngest of 5 children and my major hobbies/points of interest my friends, film, and family members. A lot of “f” stuff, apparently. I’ve had a reasonable amount of experience with most of the big milestones, at least the ones that concern people my age. After I had gotten that figured out, I then had to decide if that was the person I wanted to bring to college with me. I mean, I like to think where I ended up at the end of my grade school career was a success on some level, despite my inability to feel happy or contented.
When the height of my confusion had finally passed, I ended with the conclusion that I wasn’t going to change a single thing about myself in preparation for college. True, I could use a good self-esteem boost every once and a while, but I expect to grow out of that at a natural pace. Whether or not I’m any more or less successful at the end of college than I was at high school, I’m going to stick with it and keep this pathetic sad sack as my guide through college. Where he takes me, only time will tell.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Announcment
Hello all. Yes, I'm currently at Millersville University. And while enjoying myself, I sadly cannot blog tonight. It's a long story; basically some b.s. with my laptop not having internet access (I'm using a library computer right now) leaving me unable to email the post to myself so I could put it up here. Which sucks because I actually had something really special prepared for tonight. Ah well. Keep checking and maybe it'll be up in the next few days. Fingers crossed.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
'Summer Bucket List’ follow up
As you may (or may not) remember, one of my earliest posts on this blog was a list of things I wanted to get done before the summer ends. Now I’m just following up. Disappointment ensues.
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Attend a midnight premiere – Nope. For each film that got a midnight premiere, I was either not around, found out about it too late, or just didn’t feel like it.
Float combinations – I don’t even think I’ve been to Hilltop Ice Cream at all this summer.
Hiking – I’ll give this one a meager pass.
Route to Millersville – No. I was only there a few times over the summer, not nearly enough for me to memorize the way to and from.
Guitar – Ehh, this is debatable. I’m still no good, but I have slightly improved.
Campus Life – That’s a bingo.
Shop Rite Parking Lot – Nerp.
New T.V. Series – I revisited one, if that counts; Avatar: The Last Airbender. Freaking amazing.
Waffles & Pancakes – Sadly, no.
The Vampire Chronicles – I regrettably haven’t read any books this summer, let alone any by Anne Rice.
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Maybe if I do this for next summer, rather than set my expectations at such a middling level, I’ll just aspire not to get anything accomplished. That way, if/when I actually do something constructive, it’ll be a bigger deal.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attend a midnight premiere – Nope. For each film that got a midnight premiere, I was either not around, found out about it too late, or just didn’t feel like it.
Float combinations – I don’t even think I’ve been to Hilltop Ice Cream at all this summer.
Hiking – I’ll give this one a meager pass.
Route to Millersville – No. I was only there a few times over the summer, not nearly enough for me to memorize the way to and from.
Guitar – Ehh, this is debatable. I’m still no good, but I have slightly improved.
Campus Life – That’s a bingo.
Shop Rite Parking Lot – Nerp.
New T.V. Series – I revisited one, if that counts; Avatar: The Last Airbender. Freaking amazing.
Waffles & Pancakes – Sadly, no.
The Vampire Chronicles – I regrettably haven’t read any books this summer, let alone any by Anne Rice.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maybe if I do this for next summer, rather than set my expectations at such a middling level, I’ll just aspire not to get anything accomplished. That way, if/when I actually do something constructive, it’ll be a bigger deal.
Friday, August 13, 2010
2010 Films 3-D
If you’re having trouble viewing this post in the third dimension, feel free to adjust your glasses at your convenience.
So, I recently realized that I have a buttload of new releases to catch up on. With the large number of films to comment on, I decided to cram all the ones I’ve yet to make a comment on and shorten each critique into a shot sentence or two per film.
The Book of Eli – Gary Oldman is in this. That alone guarantees a recommendation. Appearances of awesome actors aside, this was a fairly decent and well made post apocalyptic thriller.
Remember Me – …shit.
Robin Hood – Pretty sketchy and far too brooding for its own good, but it has its moments, and there are worse ways to kill 2 ½ hours.
The Karate Kid – A very pleasant surprise. Perhaps it could have been trimmed down a bit, but overall a pretty solid remake.
Toy Story 3 – Needed more boobs.
The Last Airbender – Not bad. Sure it could’ve been better considering the source material, but it moved along at a brisk pace, the action scenes were exciting, and it’s easily Shyamalan’s best looking film yet.
Despicable Me – Reasonably cute and entertaining little animated flick.
Inception – An ambitious, initially absorbing film that quickly mutates from an intriguing, if annoyingly expository talkathon to a bombastic clusterfuck of simplistic and indulgent faux-intellectual head games, briefly punctuated by a few effective thrills.
The Kids Are All Right – A film idea that could have easily sucked if placed in the wrong hands is, with the help of sharp writing and a terrific cast, turned into a bittersweet and heartfelt comedy.
So, I recently realized that I have a buttload of new releases to catch up on. With the large number of films to comment on, I decided to cram all the ones I’ve yet to make a comment on and shorten each critique into a shot sentence or two per film.
The Book of Eli – Gary Oldman is in this. That alone guarantees a recommendation. Appearances of awesome actors aside, this was a fairly decent and well made post apocalyptic thriller.
Remember Me – …shit.
Robin Hood – Pretty sketchy and far too brooding for its own good, but it has its moments, and there are worse ways to kill 2 ½ hours.
The Karate Kid – A very pleasant surprise. Perhaps it could have been trimmed down a bit, but overall a pretty solid remake.
Toy Story 3 – Needed more boobs.
The Last Airbender – Not bad. Sure it could’ve been better considering the source material, but it moved along at a brisk pace, the action scenes were exciting, and it’s easily Shyamalan’s best looking film yet.
Despicable Me – Reasonably cute and entertaining little animated flick.
Inception – An ambitious, initially absorbing film that quickly mutates from an intriguing, if annoyingly expository talkathon to a bombastic clusterfuck of simplistic and indulgent faux-intellectual head games, briefly punctuated by a few effective thrills.
The Kids Are All Right – A film idea that could have easily sucked if placed in the wrong hands is, with the help of sharp writing and a terrific cast, turned into a bittersweet and heartfelt comedy.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
From the archives
Often considered (by myself and a few teachers where I went to high school) to be the best thing I've ever written, I present to you my published review of the 2009 PVHS drama production of Once Upon a Mattress.
Alright, Hans Christian Anderson's literary fairly tale The Princess and the Pea is, let's face it, no Les Miserables. Granted, nobody is asking it to be nor have such high marks ever been required of it. But really, how attractive does this this sound? A young princess learns of her true values by feeling a pea underneath like a gazillion mattresses. Uh huh. Well, Mary Rodgers and Marshall Barer apparently were enchanted by the concept, and adapted the story into a stage play named Once Upon a Mattress. Since then, the little fable has also been adapted into for film, television, and even a board game. Here we stand, 50 years later as our school's drama crew has picked up the aforementioned Once Upon a Mattress as their dramatic theater piece for this year.
Quite noticeably, there is a total juxtaposition in the air, with tonality in play choices shifting from a series of life-affirming theater pieces to a whimsical little children's diddy concerning vegetables in places vegetables should never be. It should also be noted that replacing Ramona Parsons from last year is Christina Castone, marking her debut as a director for the drama production. While the level of importance of a chosen director in this case is debatable, one can't help but wonder how much this play would differ had Parsons been attached, like if this is the play that would have been chosen in the first place. Castone's presence is certainly felt, but not fatal. But hey, the less time spent on the "What if?"s, the better.
An act of revitalization as much as continuation, Once Upon a Mattress seeks to breathe fresh life into the moribund family-friendly field crushed under classic literature's foot. The end result would prove all the long hours of devastating labour and time spent during and after school hours to have been time well spent. With an adequate ensemble cast ranging from seniors to sophomores to even kindergarten students. The supporting players all do their job of, well, supporting the leads, who in this case are Tom Byrne and Nicole Chouljian, both sophomores. (Side-note to all sophomores: walk faster in the hallways) If ever there was a standout in the show, quite appropriately, it would have to be Chouljian's Princess Olivia. Amidst a sea of comic performers and faux-vaudevillian whimsy, she feverishly treats her princess as sympathetic and disheartening. It's a flash of inspired risk-taking that stands out like a sore thumb in this newest Princess show, a fleeting instant of enlivened daring amid a play that's otherwise content, despite its outward appearances to the contrary, to maintain both PV's narrative and dramatic status quo.
Irrespective of the fact that its intended progressiveness is compromised, Once Upon a Mattress only intermittently delivers on its promise of glitzy and glamorous Princess bliss. When the play does falter at times, and make no mistake that it does, it’s mostly during the opening sections involving the Prince's search for a bride. As all informed viewers know, he will not succeed in finding one, and the play has some fun playing with the failures in the Prince's search, but maybe a little too much fun. Each individual princess has but one sole function. For instance, one is conceded, another is smart, and the last one…is buff, I guess. Rest assured, all the actress who portray the lot are fine and really do a good job flaunting their respective attributes and making them dominate their given personas. The fault is in the pacing of this section of the play, where it feels like the show is dragging each princess-fail joke out until it's uncomfortable and seems to be just procrastinating until it’s time for the extended finale of the show.
Another weak point of the production albeit a less troubling one, once again having to do moreso with the actual story, rather than anything the school had control over, is how the show brings itself to a close. The story itself never had much of a finale or structural arc, so it's only expected that it bled through to the drama production. It just sort of...ends. In a nutshell, the climax plays out as follows: "She felt the pea? Zomigod yay - new princess!" Fin.
But perhaps the longing for some closure signifies that the play, all things considered, achieved its goal of engaging the audience. Or maybe the one just can't help but wonder what royalty dictated by frozen food entails. For what it's worth, it's a flawed production, but gratifying in the way it delivers.
The story of all the trouble this review got me into prior to the printing could (and maybe someday will) make for an interesting blog post all its own.
Alright, Hans Christian Anderson's literary fairly tale The Princess and the Pea is, let's face it, no Les Miserables. Granted, nobody is asking it to be nor have such high marks ever been required of it. But really, how attractive does this this sound? A young princess learns of her true values by feeling a pea underneath like a gazillion mattresses. Uh huh. Well, Mary Rodgers and Marshall Barer apparently were enchanted by the concept, and adapted the story into a stage play named Once Upon a Mattress. Since then, the little fable has also been adapted into for film, television, and even a board game. Here we stand, 50 years later as our school's drama crew has picked up the aforementioned Once Upon a Mattress as their dramatic theater piece for this year.
Quite noticeably, there is a total juxtaposition in the air, with tonality in play choices shifting from a series of life-affirming theater pieces to a whimsical little children's diddy concerning vegetables in places vegetables should never be. It should also be noted that replacing Ramona Parsons from last year is Christina Castone, marking her debut as a director for the drama production. While the level of importance of a chosen director in this case is debatable, one can't help but wonder how much this play would differ had Parsons been attached, like if this is the play that would have been chosen in the first place. Castone's presence is certainly felt, but not fatal. But hey, the less time spent on the "What if?"s, the better.
An act of revitalization as much as continuation, Once Upon a Mattress seeks to breathe fresh life into the moribund family-friendly field crushed under classic literature's foot. The end result would prove all the long hours of devastating labour and time spent during and after school hours to have been time well spent. With an adequate ensemble cast ranging from seniors to sophomores to even kindergarten students. The supporting players all do their job of, well, supporting the leads, who in this case are Tom Byrne and Nicole Chouljian, both sophomores. (Side-note to all sophomores: walk faster in the hallways) If ever there was a standout in the show, quite appropriately, it would have to be Chouljian's Princess Olivia. Amidst a sea of comic performers and faux-vaudevillian whimsy, she feverishly treats her princess as sympathetic and disheartening. It's a flash of inspired risk-taking that stands out like a sore thumb in this newest Princess show, a fleeting instant of enlivened daring amid a play that's otherwise content, despite its outward appearances to the contrary, to maintain both PV's narrative and dramatic status quo.
Irrespective of the fact that its intended progressiveness is compromised, Once Upon a Mattress only intermittently delivers on its promise of glitzy and glamorous Princess bliss. When the play does falter at times, and make no mistake that it does, it’s mostly during the opening sections involving the Prince's search for a bride. As all informed viewers know, he will not succeed in finding one, and the play has some fun playing with the failures in the Prince's search, but maybe a little too much fun. Each individual princess has but one sole function. For instance, one is conceded, another is smart, and the last one…is buff, I guess. Rest assured, all the actress who portray the lot are fine and really do a good job flaunting their respective attributes and making them dominate their given personas. The fault is in the pacing of this section of the play, where it feels like the show is dragging each princess-fail joke out until it's uncomfortable and seems to be just procrastinating until it’s time for the extended finale of the show.
Another weak point of the production albeit a less troubling one, once again having to do moreso with the actual story, rather than anything the school had control over, is how the show brings itself to a close. The story itself never had much of a finale or structural arc, so it's only expected that it bled through to the drama production. It just sort of...ends. In a nutshell, the climax plays out as follows: "She felt the pea? Zomigod yay - new princess!" Fin.
But perhaps the longing for some closure signifies that the play, all things considered, achieved its goal of engaging the audience. Or maybe the one just can't help but wonder what royalty dictated by frozen food entails. For what it's worth, it's a flawed production, but gratifying in the way it delivers.
The story of all the trouble this review got me into prior to the printing could (and maybe someday will) make for an interesting blog post all its own.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
The Life Terrestrial
^ The brand new title of my blog [incaseyadidntnotice].
You see, as much as I try to come up with fresh ideas for things to ramble on here, I never really seemed to pick up on the oddness of the title. But in order to further explain this, I have to tell you the history behind the former title Criticisms and Misdemeanors.
It's a reference to a movie title. You're SHOCKED, I know. The film in question is the 1989 Woody Allen masterpiece Crimes and Misdemeanors (if you haven't seen it yet - fix that). I just fudged with the title a bit and Criticisms and Misdemeanors was born.
The thing is, when I first created this blog, it was for the purpose of film criticism and that was it. Now that I'm posting more infrequently and the things I discuss aren't all film related anymore, insinuating that there'd be a satisfactory amount of filmic topics here would be misleading, ya know?
So now I have a brand new title. And yes, it's a reference to a film title. What a twist! This time, I'm pulling a wink-wink-nudge-nudge on The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, another case of compulsive "rent this right effing now."
You see, as much as I try to come up with fresh ideas for things to ramble on here, I never really seemed to pick up on the oddness of the title. But in order to further explain this, I have to tell you the history behind the former title Criticisms and Misdemeanors.
It's a reference to a movie title. You're SHOCKED, I know. The film in question is the 1989 Woody Allen masterpiece Crimes and Misdemeanors (if you haven't seen it yet - fix that). I just fudged with the title a bit and Criticisms and Misdemeanors was born.
The thing is, when I first created this blog, it was for the purpose of film criticism and that was it. Now that I'm posting more infrequently and the things I discuss aren't all film related anymore, insinuating that there'd be a satisfactory amount of filmic topics here would be misleading, ya know?
So now I have a brand new title. And yes, it's a reference to a film title. What a twist! This time, I'm pulling a wink-wink-nudge-nudge on The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, another case of compulsive "rent this right effing now."
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